EDITOR'S DESK

I sat down with Kate Hammeke, VP of Industry Standard Research to discuss the biggest surprises or takeaways from this year’s report about the industry’s biologics and biosimilars manufacturing goals. But the conversation also evolved to some of the larger trends Hammeke expects to see impacting the biosimilar players in the future.

Since last year's feature article celebrating Samsung Bioepis' fifth anniversary, the company has seen a number of approvals and launches and has established a novel biologics development partnership. As such, I jumped on the opportunity to learn more about the company's ongoing efforts to realize a lower COGS, speed production, and manage risk in biosimilar and biologics development.

Biopharma executives have warned they need more biologics development and manufacturing capacities, particularly in North America. They haven’t been howling at the moon. Four announcements – within two days of each other – offer a sign of relief. And Amgen has provided Outsourced Pharma with its first public estimate of costs for one of those facilities.

There has not been much discussion about how biosimilars contribute to or will impact innovation — outside of helping the healthcare system afford costly novel therapies. I found my interest in this question sparked upon reading a recent headline, "Biosimilars: The Cure for Sky-High Drug Prices Or A Stake In The Heart Of Innovation?"

Last week, I published the first installment of a three-part roundtable discussion highlighting which 2017 trends/occurrences were most notable to the members of Biosimilar Development’s editorial advisory board. In addition to discussing 2017’s impact on the future of the industry, these experts also shared their thoughts on what to expect in 2018.

This is part 1 of a two-part article that describes a change management model derived from the concept of co-creation, a process in which brands and consumers work together to create better ideas, products, and services.

Senior quality leaders and the FDA agree quality organizations supporting pharma manufacturing often fall short of providing the support necessary to maintain and increase regulatory compliance and product quality. At the same time, some do not understand their actions and believe they are obstructionist and reflective of a strict compliance mentality with little regard for the business and its success. What would cause business partners to look at quality in such a way?

If a legitimate product is not manufactured according to quality standards or becomes degraded as it travels through its supply chain, it can be ineffective at best or deadly at worst. However, separating the issues of counterfeit and substandard medications is a difficult proposition.

BIOPROCESSING WHITE PAPERS

Find out the characteristics of electronic archives and history supporting today’s practical experience with digital preservation for long term retention compliance in organizations subject to US FDA, EU EMEA, and other global authorities.

Capsular polysaccharides (CPS) of encapsulated bacterial pathogens can give rise to an effective immune response in humans, and are commonly used in vaccine production. This whitepaper offers an overview of modern tools and technologies that can facilitate CPS-based vaccine production. An alternative purification approach based on chromatography, replacing many of the ethanol and phenol extraction steps of the traditional process, is also presented. Using the proposed purification platform, 28 different CPS of three different species could be processed to high purity and yield in a secure and environmentally friendly way.

By recognizing the limitations of today’s production processes, the industry may be able to overcome the challenges, complexity, and high cost of manufacturing vaccines and viral vector-based therapies.